War of the Ancients

Sword Master #1

by Shuizhu, Greg Pak, Ario Anindito (Illustrator)

You saw him tear through Fire Goblins in WAR OF THE REALMS with his big magic sword! Now learn the mysterious origins of Lin Lie, A.K.A. Sword Master, Marvel's newest Chinese super hero, in the English-language debut of his original series! Haunted by dreams of demons, Lin Lie hunts for his missing archaeologist father-and awakens his black blade for the first time!

COLLECTING: SWORD MASTER 1-6 (A Stories)

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Superheroes, Graphic Novels, Fantasy

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[RG · Rating 2 out of 5]

Waited for the trade but dissapointed

[Caleb M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started playing Marvel Snap on my phone a while ago and I have become addicted. It's SO much fun and I love the deck building and playing characters. As someone who has become so tired of Marvel and all the movies and shows they put out, the game was a reinvigorating step back into the universe.

Enter Sword Master. One of my favorite cards early on I had to look him up as I had never heard of the character before. Did some reading about him and looked to see if there were any comics, there was, and I grabbed them.

And boy was I pleasantly surprised!! It's been quite a while since I read a superhero comic that I Really Liked (4 ⭐)! This was a refreshing breath of fresh air. I'm not sure exactly what it was about this that struck a special chord with me, but it was definitely there. Similar origin story's to what you've seen before. Similar character roles as well. But this was just so much fun. I loved how the sword has a personality of its own in a way. Very cool stuff here and so glad I picked this up!

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lin Lie had two problems: 1) His father is missing and had been since right after he dropped off an ancient green sword to him. and 2) He keeps having nightmares about fighting Chiyou, the Chinese God of War. When a monster delivers a strange red gem to his apartment, he has two more : 1) A monster is trying to kill him and he has no idea how to use a sword, and 2) A strange girl jumps through his window, dispatches the monster with the sword, introduces herself as Ji Shuangshuang, and takes the red gem for herself. In chasing Ji, Lin almost gets his sword stolen by Baron Mordo, who is fought off by Doctor Strange! And now he's being told his ancestor was a legendary Sword Master who helped imprison Chiyou the last time he got out?
This book was very fast paced and excellent. Definitely felt like a manga. Very excited to see some new heroes in the Marvel Universe who are unlike others.
Definitely picking up Volume 2!
Strong debut, strong recommend.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sword Master's 12 issue series was much like Aero's, honestly. Solid characters, a decent link to the Marvel Universe, a lot of potential for more. And then it just ends all up in the air, without even a hint of a resolution.

It's a bit less of an issue than Aero's since the story doesn't end mid-battle, but it does feel like there's a lot more to deal with here that just...isn't. A damn shame, because there's a good little backstory woven in, and some funky little bits and pieces that could have turned into something more if given the chance. I guess 12 issues is pretty good these days, but still.

[Kyle Dinges · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sword Master is part of Greg Pak's line of Agents of ATLAS heroes. Sword Master was written by Chinese writer Shuizhu and adapted for English by Pak. It was drawn by Gunji, also from China. I do admire Marvel seeking to diversify their creative teams. While I have enjoyed Pak's main Agents of ATLAS series, I didn't find Sword Master on his own to be very enjoyable. Some of the characters, Sword Master included, feel better suited for a team book and aren't able to support a solo series very effectively. The primary stories only run about 18 pages per issue and the rest was filled with a secondary arc also written by Pak.

[Oneirosophos · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Why should I accept tea from a sorcerer?

I've read the issues containing both these stories and the prequel to an event called "Atlantis Attacks" and they are both fastpacing but average readings.

Sword Master is the origin story of one of the newest Marvel heroes, hailing from China. And by the extend use of many manga tropes, it unravels a whole new mythology. So, yes, it is something fresh and new at last from the "House of Ideas"!

[Hew La France · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting start to what COULD be a promising story, Sword Master Volume 1 fails to truly catch the attention of its target audience. With a protagonist who repeats everything said to him back to the character with whom hes speaking in the form of a question, one can't help but hope this hero discovers his latent super-power of comprehending the common-sense. The story has potential. It just REALLY needs to figure out what it wants to do.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was about a boy with a sword that his father gave him but he didn't know what to do with it... and for a hole volume that's like 100+ pages we get this boy saying to everyone how his father disappeared and how he gave him this sword and how he's trying to find him..

That's it. Bro. Stop saying the same thing over the whole volume. Jeez.

[Sean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Marvel's attempt at bringing Chinese heroes mainstream continues here and I couldn't finish it. This wasn't interesting or fun. After reading half I decided it wasn't for me. Overall, this book might appeal to some people but not me.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cheesy but a great time. I really liked the art style.

[Reta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful colors and action illustrations - exciting fast-paced storyline! I love Dr. Strange’s guest appearance. Will probably read more of this Marvel character’s comics.

[dp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Art and story were lacking

[Silas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is not a great fit for Marvel. It has Doctor Strange sort of jammed in there to make it seem more like Marvel, but that part is not well written, and has very poor characterization. The whole book is of generally poor quality, actually. The writing is very stilted and packed with anime and manga cliches, and I have seen better art in webcomics. The story starts sort of halfway in, but gives almost no detail about the characters, who I guess we are supposed to care about because they have cool outfits. I don't doubt that interesting stories could be written with this character. A comic book character whose main thing is that they have a magical sword with a history works fine. I enjoy Black Knight comics. This book is just not very well done, though, with bad pacing, writing, and art and a whole style that just doesn't really suit Marvel all that well.

[MajesticalLion · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the story, but man the art is awful. It's like they took an already mediocre comic artist who'd never seen an anime in their life, said "Okay. Make it look anime" and then the artist googled the word "anime" and did their best from there. I'm gonna keep reading for the plot, but man it's hard to look at those emotionless eyes.

[Zach Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent introduction, don’t necessarily have much interest in following this character further.